KUWAIT CITY, Jan 18: In reaction to the article published in Al-Qabas daily about the refusal of experts in the field of folk arts to cancel the Ministry of Information’s folk arts station and merge it with the Arabic song station, the Assistant Undersecretary for Broadcasting Affairs Dr. Youssef Al-Suraie said this procedure will be temporary until the completion of a new radio station exclusively for Kuwait and Gulf folklore, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In a press statement, Dr. Al-Suraie said, “I thank everyone who interacted with the issue raised by the daily because it reflects the love and concern for the Kuwaiti and popular heritage. The people I presented are great masters in the field of folk music. The folklore station has been broadcasting traditional songs for 12 years, but over time there has been repetition. We therefore got the idea that we are working on, which is to launch a station for folklore that provides a scientific and artistic value and introduces young people to these traditional folklore arts. The new station will also be concerned with Gulf folklore, so we look forward to it being a platform for showcasing all Gulf folklore.

At Radio Kuwait, we have a well-studied plan for specialized stations, just as the successive broadcasters on Radio Kuwait were keen to raise the voice of Kuwait and give each station its local character. About 12 years ago, the folklore station was the same as the old Arabic song station, but there was a perspective at the time for the station to be concerned with folklore only. With the passage of time, we received several calls commenting on the repetition of the songs, so it became necessary to merge this station with Arabic song station and give peak time to folklore, until we finish the Kuwaiti and Gulf folklore station, in order to integrate authentic folklore, especially since there are many Kuwaitis who sing in the Gulf and vice versa.

The archive of Radio Kuwait is full of these works, especially private arts such as Lewa and Tamboura. The new station will also be broadcast on social media, accompanied by a profile of the singer and the type of art he presents. We look forward to spreading the various colors of art in a wide manner and reaching all age groups, something that the old station did not help us with. There are generations that used to listen without knowing about the singer or the type of art, so we will remedy this matter with the new station, especially with the supervision of senior professors in arts and popular literature on the new project that we are working on implementing with the support of the minister of Information and the Undersecretary of the ministry.”

Al-Suraie concluded by saying, “Wave 94.9, through which Qur’an Radio is broadcasted, has been well received by the public, especially since there are those who only want to listen to the great reciters of the Qur’an in Kuwait, the Gulf and the Islamic world. We support the trend to implement specialized stations and we have new ideas, but we need time, especially since these matters require technical and legal procedures.”